Happy News

Todays post is just a short one to let you all know that the wayward wonderer's have returned home after being lost for 4 days..

It was a real surprise to find them both collapsed at the back door after we had spent time, energy and nerves looking for them. They were weak, skinny, hungry, dirty and covered in ticks but otherwise uninjured.

It seems that they could have been tempted by an animal and decided to get to it and chase it so therefore becoming lost in the bush in the area.

They have been sleeping and resting..They will hopefully recover and be back to their old selves again..

This video was uploaded to Youtube on the day they returned..I started filming them as soon as I saw them there on the back veranda.

LPQ Saturday Christmas Lunch

Today was the LPQ Christmas lunch at Tamar Cove Restaurant, Beauty Point. It was a sunny but windy day and lots of quilters were there. The food was really nice, I had fish with salad and potato croquets with lemon butter sauce. Plum pudding for dessert.

I was lucky enough to win 2 raffle prizes which are pictured. Also a stop at Calico Crossroads quit shop at Exeter on the way there and on the way back proved very fruitful. I signed up for another BOM for next year called Pop's Garden by Threadbare and bought a couple of fat quarters.

The picture immediately below is of the lovely gift I received from my very good friend Leanne (Lizzie's Page).

While at Calico Crossroads I found this pattern..It is really beautiful. A nice winter project to do..

These are the raffle prizes I won at the lunch. 2 Magazines and some really gorgeous fabric.

Here is Calico Crossroad at Exeter....A must do place to visit..

Here we all are enjoying good food, drink, company and atmosphere all in the name of friendship and Quilting..

Who Let the Dogs Out??????????

Yesterday, our two dogs decided to make a run for the hills and we have not seen them since..Today was spent making flyers and letterbox dropping all the houses in the area...

We found a very small area of bent wire in the fence where they have squeezed through...Well what can I say except that we cant do anything more than we have already...Now we just wait...Hopefully someone will find them and ring us...

This is a little video that I made of them and our letterbox drop today..

I was looking forward to a weekend of sewing, which I still may do but the mood has now changed...

Christmas Lights..

As Christmas is approaching fast, people have started decorating their houses. This post shows a couple of the ones we have seen so far. Christmas light drives have become a tradition here so we spend many hours driving around until the wee hours of the morning looking for houses that have been decorated..

Christmas carols played on the piano sound from our house and we are looking forward to roast turkey and all the trimmings.

The house below is ours...This is our Christmas tree for this year. Out indoor one is too big and cumbersome so we are going to get a smaller one. So this year instead of taking out our bulky tree, we decided to have a Christmas apricot tree instead.

Christmas is a magical time to spend with lots of LOVE and good cheer...

Christmas is coming!!

It has been some time since my last post. How the time flies. I did not realize how long it had been and I was also having trouble with blogger passwords and pictures.

I have been busy with many things like gardening and husband being home for over a month and being annoying.

Christmas lunches and BBQ's are going to be the regular activity over the next few weeks. I am looking forward to those and hopefully NOT putting on weight that I don't need.

A beautiful spring day was had visiting the Entally House annual Garden Festival in Northern Tasmania. Lots of nice things to see and do like walking in the historic gardens and having a look at the house. Listening to music and eating ice cream
Back to some hand piecing with one of my recent UFO's. Maybe I might have pictures of this project to show later on..

I have bought some lovely new fabric called Sweet Rose and it is pictured if I can get the picture thing to work properly. I also bought a really pretty pattern called Home Tweet Home which is an applique quilt featuring birdhouses.

Have a very happy and safe Christmas and new year. L.O.V.E to all of you..

Getting into the Spring of things!

It is nice to see that everybody in blog land has been so busy with really beautiful projects. Now that the sun is finally out there will be more daylight hours for more quilting and stuff.

I have been finishing off other

things and now am ready to get back to my very neglected sewing projects and more blog posts. There are so many unfinished things I need to get onto and now I can.

The garden here is very colourful and even mo

re fragrant. Lilacs are blooming. The picture below is of a large lilac bush at the entry to our back patio where there are three large wisterias that have not opened with flowers yet.

Todays post will be short. We have friends coming over for dinner and there is supermarket shopping to do yet. I can't wait to post more quilt related things as I am about to start finishing off some very special projects. They are not far from being ready for photo.

A couple of weeks ago we had a little drama when our little dog (and her accomplice) decided to squeeze themselves under a fence and head for the hills. Toffee (the accomplice Labrador) was captured with a piece of roast chicke

n by a neighbor and returned home but Pip went MIA for about 40 hours until we eventually found her. The fear of God is now in them both and they refuse to go near any open gates or closed ones for that matter.

What has been happening with me!

It has been some time since my last visit but I am back and will be posting regularly again. hopefully I will be progressing with more fun projects that I have been working on.

For the last few weeks I have been finishing off larger work projects and smaller ones are starting to ease.

Spring weather here has also brought a new reason to get back into the swing of things. After 3 months of virtually non stop rain here, it is just wonderful to have the sun shining.

Yesterday a bunch of blue wrens visited the garden and were singing past darkness, they are still very illusive and hard to take pictures of but here is one I prepared earlier in a different place and time.

We have hung up my gardeners journal quilt in out little sitting room and it looks at home here. There are still many quilts to hang and countless many to finish.

Two days ago we went to the Royal Launceston Show, I did not take many photos there but we had a good day looking at all the animals and things. We bought 2 chocolate show bags and ate chips and chicken burgers.

Cows are beautiful, these particular cows were very friendly and loved a kiss and a pat. There was also a lot of baby animals in the nursery.

Until next time.

Roll Up Roll Up! It's SHOWTIME......

It does not happen that often but when it does its BIG!. That 's the Launceston Patchwork and Quilters Quilt Exhibition. There are hundreds of beautiful quilts to look at, A gorgeous raffle quilt that you could win and The Quilt Patch has set up shop as well.

Now that the sun has come out finally, why not spend today or tomorrow OR Today AND Tomorrow at the Exhibition? It is on for two more days Friday 11th from 10 - 5pm and Saturday 12th from 10 - 5pm. Entry is $5 at the Punchbowl Christian Centre, in Punchbowl, Launceston and well worth the visit.

Spring has sprung, what better time of the year to get inspired to make new projects. I am planning to finish some older UFO's and move on to other things like more traditional applique and pieced quilts. Then when the next exhibition comes around I'll have different quilts to put in.

time to get back to work now and dream of new projects and finishing old ones (perhaps finishing old ones may not be a dream!)

Holiday by the beach..

I have returned to blog land after spending a week at my parents house in New South Wales. I spent the week looking through shops and driving around. I read books and listened to music on my ipod.I found a Hobbysew shop which was predominately quilting things. I bought a couple of little things including the new Piecemakers time and seasons calender for 2010. It is just beautiful.

It is nice to be back home. A week without the internet is too painful and sad.

The pictures shown here are of Wollongong harbour on a very busy and HOT day. During my stay there the temps were in the high 20's. It was a bit of a shock for me coming from a cold and rainy winter here in Tas.

I am looking forward to posting more interesting things on my blog since it has been a bit neglected due to my MJHD (www.michaeljacksondeathhoax.com) addiction, which I am still suffering from and is in no way abating.

One month of rain!

Yes that is the news here, it will be raining for the whole month of August. Plenty of good reasons to catch up of sewing and knitting projects.

I have now returned to the land of blog after a very interesting absence. I have been struck by a very sad and odd addiction to the "michael Jackson hoax death" web site forums. Once you get hooked it is very hard to leave. I have also been working alot.

I have pictured a project which I made earlier and also a picture of the lovely birthday gift that was given to me by a dear friend (leanne)

Lizzie's page.

I have finished getting quilts ready for the LPQ exhibition which will be on the 10 - 12th September.

The first pictures (2) are of a knitting needle case that I made and the third one is of my birthday gift. Thank you very much Leanne, I love it.

Until next time, I will try to keep up with posts every now and then.

Bye Bye

I am still here!

It has been a long time since my last entry. I have very busy with work things. My sewing and things have not progressed as quickly as I would have liked.

I have been working on finishing quilts for the LPQ Exhibition in Spetember. I have also been knitting a lot. The aim is to finish the Husband Jumper first and then start a new project.

Leanne (Lizzie's Page) came over for a sewing day which was nice. We looked at each others stuff and sat and stitched.

Apart from that there has not been any new developments apart from a knitting needle holder. I have photos of that for the next entry.

Bye for now

Marina

Mid Winter Wonder

I am having a break from my work at the moment. It is very foggy outside even though it is mid afternoon or thereabouts.

I had a visit from my little friend who pops onto the window every lunch time or when I am sitting at the kitchen table. I have not named him or her yet, but he or she is very friendly.

Since my last post, I have been busy doing different things. On weekends I have started spending more time in the garden pruning and planting things. I have potted up a "Just Joey" standard rose, mini daffodills, grape hyacinths and lavender. I have also planted another interesting rose called "Red Pierre". This is a blood red version of Pierre De Ronsard. I can't wait for that one to flower.

Some new projects have commenced (I know, I have not finished old ones), these were meant to be for weekends and Thursday morning quilting. The main one is the songbird quilt by Bronwyn Hayes. I have quite a few blocks made up ready for stitching but the ones in the photo are finished.

I have also started knitting with the Italian wool that I bought for myself for mothers day. It is really interesting. The pattern is a basket weave design by Patons. This project is a night time project.

There is not a lot of knitting to show, so it is a bit difficult to see the pattern. I'll do some more for later.

Time to go and do some boring house cleaning before dinner preparation and picking up son from school.

Bye for now

Winter is on my mind, but Spring is in my heart!

Yes it is freezing here in southern Australia at the moment. Apart from work there is not much to do but quilt, knit, stitich and embroider in anticipation of Spring in September. That is what I have been doing lately and have a couple of things to show in this post.

The garden is looking very bleak as things have lost their leaves and have gone into dormancy. Although, daffoldil and hyacinth bulbs are starting to emerge. I cant wait until Spring.

I have also been naughty and have started a new project to occupy myself on Thursday mornings and Sundays. This project is Bronwyn Hayes design "Songbird". I have used duller colours in the thread and fabric. It is starting to look nice.

I have been plodding along with husbands jumper which will probably be finished next winter after having to pull half of it apart.

Feeling a bit sentimental, I have pulled out an older project and have been working on that. It is called "Grandma's Country Album". There are only 5 blocks to make and then it can be sewn together and quilted which I will do by hand. All of the blocks are hand pieced and appliqued.

Some more crocheted squares have sprouted and are on the way to becoming a crocheted quilt. Still some more to do. This is Saturdays project as long as my hands can hold out. I crochet until extreme pain sets in then continue after it has settled.

DJ blocks are also growing, but at a much slower rate. Very slow in fact. I am not making them in order of the books placing chart, but rather is groups of colour as they appear in the original quilt. Where there is pink I am making those blocks blue etc. These are some blue ones.

Winter is also a time for cooking. Tomorrows dinner plan is potato and chicken pie in a cream sauce. Very comforting (Weight Watchers recipe). I have lost just about 6.5 Kilos in 6 weeks. Another 15 Kilos to go until the new me.

Happy Stitching until next time.

Marina

Progress Report

A beautiful colourful Autumn is nearly over and Winter fast approaching.  The other day I found crochet demonstrations on You Tube.  I thought I would give it a try as I have never crocheted before.  Here are the results, some colourful granny squares.  They have been very quick and fun to make.

Our little dog Pip was desexed the other day and has returned to her normal self, although we have discovered that she is not the breeds we thought she was.  She is a Ridgeback x Rotti (we think).

This week has seen the progression of my Truly Scrumptious quilt.  Here is a sneak peak.  I still have to put on the outer borders and three more little lady heads.

Husbands jumper front had to be undone about half way because I did not shape the arm holes (What a silly dill).  It now has to be re knitted.  Never mind.....

The weekend will see Dear Jane blocks emerging one by one. I have been collecting fabric until now so I am ready to get into it.

"Blessed are the Piecemakers", From www.aprairiehomequilts.com Quotes for Quilting.

Signing off for now

Marina